Wu Sangui thought about it for a long time before he spoke: "Let this domain attack the capital, so how should the thieves be dealt with?" The thieves who were besieged in the mountains by this domain were the thieves who harmed my first emperor, how could they be easily let go? What's more, the thief is deeply hated by the soldiers of the world, if the king of Nanhai County wants to let go of the thief, isn't he afraid of the anger of the soldiers of the world? ”

Yao Qisheng replied: "Although the thieves are hateful, they are also Han! Now that the Tartars have not been destroyed, why do the children of the Han family kill each other? Didn't that give the Tartars a respite? Lord Wang, if you want to destroy the thieves, you should destroy the Tartars first! When you're done fighting the Tartars, it's not too late to come back and clean up the thieves! What's more, if the prince recovers the capital, he is the first hero of my Ming Dynasty, and when he sends troops to destroy the thieves, wouldn't it be justified? ”

It's just that this Wu Sangui is not so easy to fool, saying that he will go if he asks Wu Sangui to fight the capital? Wu Sangui always thinks about maximizing his own interests when doing things. After listening to Yao Qisheng's words, Wu Sangui sneered: "How can this capital be so easy to fight?www.biquge.info The strength of this domain is not as strong as that of the king of Nanhai County, not to mention attacking the capital, let's just say that the Central Plains Tartars, I'm afraid they are not so easy to fight! ”

Yao Qisheng knew that Wu Sangui was bargaining, but as long as Wu Sangui's price was not too outrageous, Wang Xinyu could afford it. So Yao Qisheng asked, "I don't know how much food and weapons the prince wants?" ”

Wu Sangui thought about it for a while, when he was on the Manchu side, the annual military salary given by the Manchu court was 1.5 million taels. Now that he wants to attack the capital, Wang Xinyu should give himself a number that cannot be less than this, right? However, in the past few years, whether it is the Eight Banners special offerings or tobacco, Wu Sangui has earned a lot of silver, and if it is discounted, one million taels should be given, right? After a rough estimate, Wu Sangui said: "If you want to attack the capital, a military salary of one million taels of silver a year is enough!" In addition, it is necessary to provide armor and weapons to the domain. ”

Before Yao Qisheng set off, the bottom line given by Wang Xinyu was about 1.5 million taels a year, which was not a problem for Wang Xinyu at all, and Wu Sangui couldn't get the money for a few years, so it was time to kick his legs. At present, use Wu Sangui's men and horses to take the capital first, and then take the opportunity to incorporate his soldiers and horses later.

"One million taels, a little too much, the prince must have made a lot of money selling special offerings to the Eight Banners over the years, right?" Although Wu Sangui's asking price is lower than the bottom line, Yao Qisheng still has to bargain, if he agrees too happily, it will make Wu Sangui suspicious, maybe he will change his hexagram again, and ask for the price all over the sky.

Wu Sangui sneered: "If you want to let the brothers of this clan sell their lives, one million taels is not much!" ”

Yao Qisheng said: "600,000 taels!" Other princes can collect taxes on the spot to solve the problem! ”

"Collecting taxes? Where to collect it? Wu Sangui snorted, "The fertile land of Jiangnan and Huguang has all fallen into the hands of the king of Nanhai County, and the northern land is already barren, and because of the troubles and troubles, it is already sparsely populated, and the land is barren, where can I collect taxes?" I'm afraid that if you occupy it, this domain will have to pay the silver upside down, right? ”

Yao Qisheng laughed: "The northern land has suffered from thieves for many years, but the thieves have been driven into the mountains by the Tartars for more than 20 years, and there are high-yield crops such as sweet potatoes, and the population is growing rapidly, otherwise why would the Eight Banners of the Tartars enclose the land?" How can you say that taxes are not collected? Even if the tax is small, it won't make you pay the silver, right? ”

After some bargaining, Wu Sangui finally agreed to give Wu Sangui a military salary of 800,000 taels of silver a year, and also provide a certain amount of firearms, swords, armor and other weapons.

After that, Wu Sangui also made a request: "Xiangyang, you fight!" After defeating Xiangyang, you and my two armies can be connected. However, Xiangyang Jiancheng was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the heavy artillery of this domain was insufficient, so it was impossible to conquer Xiangyang Jiancheng. ”

Yao Qisheng agreed, Xiangyang was originally an important target that the Qiongzhou army was preparing to attack, and with the strength of others, it was impossible to capture Xiangyang.

……

It was also when Yao Qisheng and Wu Sangui reached an agreement that the Qiongzhou Army and the Nanyang Navy began to flank Anqing from the upstream and downstream respectively. The Ming army in the upper reaches went down the river, and the Ming fleet in the lower reaches took advantage of the opportunity of the southeast wind to go upstream, and the two Ming armies killed them from the Yangtze River and arrived at Anqing City.

To attack Anqing, the upstream Ming army dispatched a total of 50,000 marines, 30,000 auxiliaries, and 30,000 sailors. Because it is down the Yangtze River, there is no need for too many auxiliaries. The chief general is Wang [auxiliary] minister, military advisor Wang Yuyou, and deputy general Wang Zihao. The Ming army set out from Jiujiang and went downstream to kill.

Originally, the Qing army sailors on the Yangtze River did not dare to stop the Ming army at all, Shi Lang was frightened by the Ming army's sailors, and fled south with the remaining sailors and hid in the Anqing sailor camp. Shi Lang didn't even bother to arrange the underwater hidden piles and barrages, he knew that the mines of the Ming army were powerful, and arranging those things could only be a waste of manpower and material resources.

The Ming army passed through Pengze, although the Ming army in Jiangnan had not yet arrived here, but after Shi Lang's sailors withdrew, Pengze County automatically changed its flag and replaced it with the Ming banner.

In addition, the Ming army in the lower reaches dispatched almost all the main warships of the Nanyang Fleet, with a total of 162 large and small warships, 56 transport ships, more than 1,000 small sampans and boats, more than 30,000 naval sailors, more than 10,000 marines, and 30,000 Zhejiang troops to cooperate with the attack.

It's the season of southeast winds again, and all kinds of Western-style warships have switched back to Western-style soft sails. The huge battleships took advantage of the wind to swim upstream, and along the way, the cities on the south bank of the Yangtze River had returned to the hands of the Ming Dynasty. The city on the north bank was still in the hands of the Qing army.

The Ming army attacked Hezhou on the other side of Nanjing, which was on the Yangtze River and had convenient transportation, but it was also because the state city was on the riverside, and the city was not big, and the whole city was covered by the artillery of the Ming fleet.

On the river, more than 100 warships lined up in a neat formation, passing outside the city of Hezhou, the right side of the gun door was all open, when the fleet fired, the rumbling cannon sound was like a thunderbolt, the flickering fire flickered from the front of the fleet to the end, and the cannonballs fell on the city wall like a torrential rain.

Hezhou was not a strong city in the first place, the city wall was in disrepair, the city height was not more than one zhang, the moat on the southwest and north sides was no different from the small pond, the east of the city was the Yangtze River, it was originally a natural moat, but it became the activity place of the Ming fleet, the cannonballs continued to fly from the river to the city wall, and the city wall that had been in disrepair for a long time was soon blown down a large area.

The Anqing battalion of the Qing army and the Yangtze River Naval Division stationed in Anqing are actually close to Hezhou, and if the Qing army goes down the river and rushes to support, it will not take two days to arrive. But the Qing army was already frightened, and only dared to retreat in the safe and fortified city, and did not dare to go out of the city to reinforce Hezhou.

There were not many garrisons in Hezhou City, there were no green battalions, only local people and white soldiers, and the reason why the county commander did not dare to surrender was because his family members were under the control of the Qing court.